It was these errors that led detectives to the organised criminal gang who had got away with £637,000 of stock from Market Cross Jewellers shops in Yarm and Middlesbrough .

Because the stolen Audi A6 getaway car was not torched when it was dumped at Yarm Cricket Club after the first robbery police were able to get DNA from a crowbar and the steering wheel.

And false number plates which should have been destroyed were found in the boot, allowing detectives to trace its movements using traffic cameras.

In the trial of Ian Ogden, 27, alleged to be “at the heart” of the plot, prosecutor Richard Bennett told Teesside Crown Court : “No matter how well put together a plan may be it is only as strong as the weakest link.

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“Despite the execution and the successful escape, in each case those carrying out the robbery made a fundamental mistake.

“It was this mistake that allowed the police through a huge operation to track down a number of the main players in each robbery.”

Mr Bennett said the gang had planned to dump the Audi used in the Yarm raid “and torch it to remove all traces of DNA and forensic evidence”.

“Unhappily for the robbers a member of the public disturbed the man trying to set it alight,” he told the jury.

“He ran off to a waiting vehicle which made off at speed. That was where they bungled this operation.

“Had the Audi been burned out as was the plan, it would have been very difficult if not impossible to trace its route as the other false plates inside the vehicle would have been destroyed.

“As it was the police were able to trace the route that the Audi had taken on the first set of false plates found inside the vehicle.”

Mr Bennett said gang members also made the mistake of using “dirty”, disposable mobile phones to ring “clean” numbers, calling co-conspirators and loved ones.

Of the £515,000 worth of designer Rolex, Omega and Breitling watches stolen from the Yarm jewellers in November 2014 and over £122,000 of stock stolen in the Middlesbrough raid in January last year only one watch has been recovered.